Real humans. No AI. No bots.
Anonymous pre-crisis chat support for BC students that integrates directly into your school’s digital ecosystem.
Built in British Columbia with educators and mental health professionals to meet FIPPA privacy standards and ERASE safety protocols.
1.25M
youth in Canada
require mental
health support*
57%
do not get the help they deserve
⬇︎
Anchor
Early Intervention
24%
of youth have experienced suicidal thoughts
8%
have planned a suicide attempt
Across schools, crisis needs are rising, yet many students struggle long before reaching a breaking point. Crisis response is essential, but support often arrives too late. Early guidance, preventative wellbeing, and trusted human connection must be part of the solution, especially as school budgets and counsellor capacity remain tight.
Today, many young people turn to AI for support. While convenient, these tools raise serious questions about safety, accountability, and human connection. When it comes to youth mental health, shortcuts are too risky.
Anchor changes the equation. By integrating our service into your school website or student platform, students gain immediate, private, confidential, and anonymous access to real human support. Our trained mental health advocates provide meaningful, supervised, one-to-one conversations before challenges escalate into crises. There is no AI, no bots — only human-first support, delivered with a friendly, professional approach that complements your existing counselling and wellbeing services.
With Anchor, schools provide a trusted, familiar space for students. Your school’s branding, policies, and support pathways are fully integrated, keeping students connected to the staff and resources they already know and trust.
Anchor Widget Options
Students can reach Anchor instantly via our widget or a direct link. Integration is quick and simple, and every conversation remains private, secure, and confidential. Our widgets are customizable.
During hours of operation:
Students can chat with one of our mental health advocates in addition to accessing resource links.
Outside of hours of operation:
When the chat is closed, our widget connects students with your resources or trusted local support resources through useful links.
What makes our service safe ✅
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Anchor is available only through your school, keeping chats secure and accessible via authenticated school portals or secure embeds. Students don’t need to create an account or share personal information, reducing barriers and allowing them to speak freely without fear of repercussions.
Anonymity keeps the focus on wellbeing, fosters trust, and encourages early help-seeking. Anchor also manages structured escalation and crisis protocols, collaborating with crisis lines and handling reporting, which reduces the burden on school staff while ensuring students receive safe, timely support.
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Anchor is designed to work in direct partnership with the BC Ministry of Education’s ERASE strategy. While many tools are built for one-way reporting, Anchor provides a two-way, human-led conversation that catches students "upstream"—supporting them before a challenge becomes a crisis.
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Anchor operates through a secure web-based chat. We do not use SMS, social media, or third-party messaging platforms that may compromise privacy or data security.
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All conversations are handled by trained human mental health advocates. Anchor does not use AI or automated responses, ensuring students receive thoughtful, empathetic, and accountable support.
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Our support team is made up of mental health professionals and trained volunteers studying psychology, social work, or related mental health fields. All volunteers receive ongoing training and supervision. Experienced mental health professionals provide clinical oversight, and licensed clinicians manage escalation and high-risk situations to ensure consistent safety, quality, and appropriate care.
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Anchor is not a crisis line but has clear protocols for managing high-risk situations, including self-harm or safety concerns. All high-risk conversations are handled by experienced mental health professionals and overseen by licensed counsellors, following established duty-of-care standards and aligning with provincial legislation, the BC ERASE framework, and district Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) protocols.
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Anchor manages all internal documentation and reporting. Schools are notified only when necessary, such as in situations involving safety, escalation, or mandated reporting.
We provide districts with anonymized aggregate data on high-level wellness trends to help inform school-wide mental health planning. -
Anchor is designed to work alongside your school’s counselling and wellbeing services, not replace them. We coordinate 'warm handovers' to ensure students remain connected to school-based counsellors and trusted local supports.
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Every conversation is guided by empathy, respect, and a strengths-based lens. We meet students exactly where they are, focusing on their inherent resilience and capabilities rather than just the challenges they face. By providing non-judgmental, person-centered support, we empower students to tap into their own resources and navigate their concerns with confidence. Whether a student needs a listening ear or a strategy to move forward, our human responders adapt their approach to honor each individual’s unique needs, identity, and lived experience.
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When additional support is needed, Anchor connects students to appropriate local and community-based resources that are trusted and relevant to their context.
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Student data is protected and never sold or shared. Anchor operates in compliance with Canadian privacy legislation, including FIPPA.
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Anchor is developed, owned, and operated in British Columbia. We use secure cloud infrastructure hosted in Canada to ensure reliability, privacy, and compliance with BC data protection standards.
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Anchor is built on a foundation of cultural humility and trauma-informed practice. We provide a safe, affirming space for students of all genders, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds—including 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, Indigenous, Black, and racialized students, newcomers, and students with neurodiverse or diverse abilities.
Whether in K–12 or post-secondary settings, Anchor removes barriers to support, ensuring every student feels seen, respected, and reflected in the care they receive.
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Anchor is delivered by a registered charity. Our decisions are guided by student wellbeing and community impact, not commercial incentives.
Mission statement: at Community is Medicine, our mission is to close the gaps in mental-health care for young people on Vancouver Island and across Bristish Columbia, ensuring every young person receives the support they need and deserve.
Other services:
❌ Often do not provide one-to-one early support, relying instead on peer community forums, volunteer listener networks, or AI bots which can introduce risk and inconsistency in support quality.
❌ Are not fully anonymous; students must share identifying information such as name, email, phone number, school, and age, which creates barriers for students seeking immediate, confidential help.
❌ Many are for-profit organizations, which may prioritize growth or revenue over student well-being, whereas Anchor is a BC-based charity fully focused on providing safe, supervised, barrier-free mental health support.
❌ Are not local. Many operate internationally, raising questions about data privacy, storage, and compliance with provincial regulations.
❌ Require multiple steps to access support, such as creating an account, downloading an app, providing personal information, or booking a session in advance , all of which increase friction and often lead to students abandoning the conversation.
Our service is offered through invitation rounds. If you received an invitation by email, please contact our representative. If not, you can express interest using the form below.